Inmates hold rooftop protest at Oakwood prison

Three prisoners in protest at heavily-criticised Wolverhampton jail

Three prisoners climbed on to a roof for a protest at Oakwood Prison on Friday.

The inmates began their protest at Wolverhampton's privately-run prison at about 11am.

A spokeswoman for G4S, which runs the prison, said: “We can confirm that three prisoners have been involved in a rooftop protest at HMP Oakwood since this morning.

“The Ministry of Justice was informed immediately and established contingency plans were put into place.

"A team of specialist negotiators, trained to work at height, are being deployed and our hope is that this situation can be resolved quickly and peacefully.

“The normal prison regime has been unaffected and there is no danger to staff, prisoners or the public.

“An internal investigation has been launched.”

It is not known what the protest is about but the Category C prison was slammed in a recent report from inspectors, which said it needed to urgently address its approach to its near 300 sex offenders, many of whom were due for release without their offending having been addressed.